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Goodbye Brave

arunmozhi.in

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Re: Goodbye Brave

#171

Post by bmn__ »

chrmod wrote: post #166
cmeacham98 wrote: post #6

Hi author, if you're here on HN please consider ditching sketchy extensions like Ghostery (sells your user data) and Adblock+ (participates in paid bypass of "acceptable ads" program) for the open-source and user-focused uBlock Origin ( https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock ). Also, if you haven't tried Firefox since the quantum days come back and give it another try.

Disclaimer: I work for Ghostery. I respond to protect my own name, not my employer. Ghostery is not selling user data. Let me point out a few facts: All browser-side code is open source https://github.com/ghostery/ghostery-extension and https://github.com/ghostery/ghostery-dnr-extension . Yes, Ghostery has a subscription based business model and that another reason to great care in protecting users privacy. Take a lo…

> Let me point out a few facts:

Ohhhh, let me too!

"Ghostery makes money by tracking the trackers while blocking them and selling data about third party trackers, which it calls Ghostrank."

"Ghostery calls it Consumer Messaging Platform, which allows the company to message users directly in the web browser. According to Ghostery, it will be used for product announcements and promotions. What makes this problematic is that it is enabled by default."

You aren't fooling anyone.

Re: Goodbye Brave

#172

Post by jonathansampson »

schleck8 wrote: post #5

I think this is due to Brave proxying some Google requests through their own servers, because otherwise the same people would complain that a Google server is being contacted. > I am thinking of going back to [Chromium] with the usual extensions like Ghostery, AdBlock+ > [Brave's] amazing ad-blocking and tracker protection If you just need an adblocker, sure. At this point everone should have heard of uBlock Origin.

This may indeed have been an issue with Brave's proxying layer (Hello, I'm Sampson from the Brave team). I was able to reproduce the user's screenshot by setting up an AutoResponder in Fiddler to serve a 401 Unauthorized response from go-updater.brave.com, which yielded the "Access Denied" message in the Chrome Web Store. I'm not aware of any issue where this endpoint authentically served a 401 response, but it's entirely possible the user happened to catch a rare, transient event. I'm checking with my team either way.

Re: Goodbye Brave

#173

Post by jonathansampson »

i13e wrote: post #29

This title seems a little clickbaity to be honest and I'm not sure how accurate the author's portrayal of Brave's server side is. Based on intuition I imagine the inability to install extensions has something to do with Chrome's locked down web store forcing Brave to make it's server-side act as a middle man to the chrome web to download and install extensions. Therefore this would be a google/chromium/intentional de…

The problem is definitely a bit more complicated. While it's possible this issue did not involve an issue with Brave at all, it's also possible that it did. The behavior observed (inferring from the screenshot) suggests the user's access to this extension was denied at the time. A 401 response (Unauthorized) from Brave's proxy-endpoint (go-updater.brave.com in this case, I believe) would result in this message being shown. It is entirely possible the user happened to catch a rare, transient issue with our proxy.

Sampson (Brave Team)

Brave proxies Google endpoints to prevent users from making unintended contact with Google.

Re: Goodbye Brave

#174

Post by jonathansampson »

silisili wrote: post #95

I posted here on HN asking if Brave mobile was broken for anyone else one night, for little response. My wife and I both use Brave, and it just hung at startup. Unsatisfied, I checked the Reddit sub the next day, and saw tons of complaints. Apparently if the Brave backend is down, it won't even launch. This is a huge problem that makes me entirely skeptical of not only the browser, but that anyone in charge has any i…

No service outage should ever cause the application itself to be unusable. Which mobile platform are you using? If the browser cannot successfully contact our backend services (for things like update checks, or refreshing its internal list of known-malicious URLs to avoid) then it will simply carry-on and attempt those requests at a later point.

Sampson (Brave Team)

Re: Goodbye Brave

#175

Post by jonathansampson »

hereforphone wrote: post #13

I switched from Firefox and I've been happy so far. It's not perfect, but not as bad as the others. As others have said here be careful what extensions you install. I also don't sign up for sync, or password manager, or any of that stuff as I don't trust it enough on any browser. Several months into Brave and I have no urge to turn back yet.

Happy to hear that you're enjoying Brave. Regarding your concerns over Sync, we publish details on our Brave Sync works at https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/wiki/Brave-Sync-v2. Good that you're cautious though :)

Sampson (Brave Team)

Re: Goodbye Brave

#176

Post by jonathansampson »

mclightning wrote: post #153

I am still using Brave, but I am immensely bothered by them forcing us into using their own wallets (out of deals they make, None uses Uphold! except forced by Brave) instead of any decentralized option. Then constant bugs when paying out BAT rewards, causing you to lose them, but never refunds you.

Uphold (and Gemini) are required only for those who wish to KYC. Brave cannot act as a funnel for unchecked funds between large advertisers (e.g. Walmart, Amazon, Coinbase, etc.) and anonymous external wallets. If a user wishes to "cash out," Brave must comply with relevant AML laws and regulations. Note, this requirement only exists for uses who wish to "cash out" or deposit their own BAT, and only for the Brave Rewards wallet (Brave Wallet, a general purpose wallet in the browser, does not have any such requirement).

I'm sorry to hear that you experienced an issue with the distribution of BAT rewards; I'd be happy to assist and see to it that you receive all rewards for which you are rightly owed. If you have a Twitter account, send a DM to @BraveSampson to proceed.

Sampson (Brave Team)

Re: Goodbye Brave

#177

Post by jonathansampson »

oakfr wrote: post #146

This article seems to spawn many threads on online advertising, but the initial comment from the author seems to be more around a system/architecture issue (i.e. why should a browser require backend servers). I am writing this comment here to see what people think about this question specifically.

Brave proxies Google endpoints (see https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/wiki/Deviations-from-... for a list). This is to prevent users from making unintended contact with Google. This particular error ("Access Denied") encountered by the author could be from Google, but could also be from a transient issue with the Brave proxy serving a 401 response (or similar).

Sampson (Brave Team)

Re: Goodbye Brave

#178

Post by jonathansampson »

reflexe wrote: post #33

Brave is a bit shady with its hard coded ad whitelist. That does not scream "user trust".

There is no hard-coded ad whitelist. This is misreporting from years ago, based on an individuals confusion over a filename. Brave does not whitelist any third-party ads or trackers.

Sampson (Brave Team)

Re: Goodbye Brave

#179

Post by jonathansampson »

encryptluks2 wrote: post #3

The thing I don't understand about Brave users is that they are essentially using Chromium with a bunch of extra bloat added. Wouldn't it make more sense to just use Chromium with the extensions that you want and need?

Brave isn't a mere superset of Chromium. We actually remove, modify, and proxy quite a bit. You can read the nitty-gritty details at https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/wiki/Deviations-from-....

You absolutely could create a similar browsing experience (with excellent extensions like uBlock Origin), but you're still ultimately at the mercy of the browser vendor. For example, uBlock Origin is facing pressure from forthcoming Manifest V3 changes which threaten the existence of the extension (and many others like it). Brave, as a Browser, has committed itself to continuing support for these types of extensions.

One of the other large elements of Brave is Brave Ads & Rewards, and the ability for users to anonymously translate their attention into substantive support for content creators in a privacy-preserving fashion.

Sampson (Brave Team)

Re: Goodbye Brave

#180

Post by jonathansampson »

kome wrote: post #14

I cannot understand why technically savvy people keep using spywares like Brave ( https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/brave.html ) or Chrome ( https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/chrome.html ) when we have better alternatives such as Vivaldi ( https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/vivaldi.html ) or Firefox ( https://spyware.neocities.org/guides/firefox.html )

It is absurd to claim Brave is spyware; I responded to your source early this year: https://twitter.com/BraveSampson/status/1348400822925856770. I would encourage you to instead look to competent, reputable sources for security and privacy reviews of browsers (e.g. https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/browser_privacy.pdf).

Sampson (Brave Team).

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